It was the worst of times for the American gun-owners throughout the nation. The Firearms Safety and Registration Act of 2013 required all Americans to register their firearms and explosives by July 1, 2013. Failure to do so, violators will be punished with up to ten years of prison and up to $10,000 charge for each infraction. Only 1/3 of the estimated weapons held by Americans have been registered thus far.

As a result, Federal Agents were everywhere, and they were bent on keeping the unruly citizens in line. The prominent Federal higher-ups in Washington D.C. were worried that the Americans would take up arms and fight for their right to think and believe what they wanted and to permit themselves to keep their firearms if they chose to do so. As a result, they were forced to take action.......

It won’t happen that way. Just look at Canada and the UK. It’ll happen through incrementalism.

Every time there is one of these tragedies involving firearms, the laws get tightened. More types of firearms or accessories become illegal. Present owners will be grandfathered in - they will not come for your guns. Too much hassle and potential for negative publicity. But usage, including movement, will get more and more restricted. Registration will creep in, and it will become more and more of a hassle. Dealers will face increasing red tape and potential for criminal prosecution and fines for minor errors in bookkeeping.

“Safe storage” laws will require inconvenient and expensive storage facilities for both dealers and owners, and in thise case violations will lead to heavy fines/jail time/confiscation.

Regulations on the construction firearms themselves in the name of ‘safety’ and also identification, like micro stamping and also warning labels like Ruger had (do they still do it?) engraved into their barrels and all sort of other regulations will make it increasing not worthwhile to manufacture firearms.

So eventually manufacturers, dealers, and owners give in, inch by inch, step by step, until like the UK not so many years ago, handguns were virtually banned completely, it’s hardly news.

The only reason it hasn’t happened already is the 2nd Amendment but when the supreme court can make abortion legal as a ‘privacy right’ then how long will it be that one packed by Obama finds a way around it?

I doubt the imaginary law is at all implausible. Could such a law be passed today? No, probably not, nor could it be implemented by executive order. Why, then, do I think it's within the realm of possibility? Imagine a set of events, please:

1.) President You Didn't Build That and the "progressives" steer or nudge or push the national economy toward a disruption: a bump or a sudden, fairly drastic impediment that doubles or triples unemployment, results in serious bond and stock and commodities market drops without crashing them, doubles the price of gasoline as the dollar undergoes a planned or forced devalution, and declarations of bankruptcy by some cities and states.

2.) Social unrest arises in major metropolitan areas as a result of food and gasoline shortages, public transportation disruptions, rumors, looting, arson, murder, and in short, all the usual suspects. Whether the social unrest spreads outward from city centers, everyone agrees it could do so very quickly and easily get both larger and worse.

3.) YDBT and the rubber stamp Congress confer gravely, and pass a "temporary emergency economic rescue plan," call it, which includes temporary nationalization of ailing banks, temporary wage and price freezes, temporary emergency funds for cities and states and unemployed citizens, temporary nationalization of the oil and automobile and airline and hospitality and other industries, temporary feral government assumption of control over ailing markets, temporary feral control of all savings and retirement accounts and corporate accounts in excess of $5 million, temporary control of all medical organizations to ensure to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of medical care without regard for race, creed, color, national origin, the ability to pay, and the like, temporary nationalization of all large food distribution companies, et cetera. Incidentally, the measure includes nationalization of all state and local law enforcement agencies and the National Guard, mandatory firearms registration with severe penalties for failure to comply, and all concealed carry permits are temporarily rendered null and void for the duration of the emergency.

All that could happen by this time next week. Call it a Reichstag fire or a serious enough crisis or anything you'd like, but I'm rock-solid sure all the above and much worse could happen, and nearly as sure the people who eviscerated our constitutional republic from within in all but name and replaced it with a "progressive" oligarchy wouldn't hesitate half a heart beat to pump up the national pain and adrenaline to advance their cause: the ends always justify the means with totalitarianists, after all.

Oh, by the way, could an intended economic disruption turn into an all-encompassing, all-devouring national economic and social disaster? People who are driven first and foremost by blind hatred have an unfortunate tendency to overlook consequences.

That was the long gun registry. Yes, you can still buy long guns and shotguns although you need a permit to buy any kind of firearm, and those can and are denied for a number of reasons including who you share a domicile with.

I’m not sure what the situation is now on autoloading long guns like AR15s - you probably know. I haven’t lived there for a long time but from what I read I get the feeling that assuming they are not all restricted or even prohibited, all mags over 5 rounds for them and all other firearms are illegal.

I can tell you, I saw ease of purchase in buying a handgun go from open case displays in departments stores (Woodward’s in Calgary - yes, it was a long time ago), and the ease of registration for purposes of “defense of life and property”, to the situation now where you need a gun safe, all kinds of restrictions on buying, selling, transportation (including for repairs), shooting, etc. I saw it go just the way I described.

I know my beloved M14 is now “prohibited”. I had to give that to a registered (grandfathered) full auto collector or see it chopped. He cannot give, will, sell it (except to another grandfathered collector) or dispose of it in any way except to give it to a museum (which wouldn’t want it) or the police. He cannot take it to a range to shoot it. Also my old semi-auto Uzi. Also my open bolt semi auto Francki. Also all .25 and .32 cal weapons. Also shotgun capacity extenders. etc. etc. Step by step....

If it happens according to your incrementalism theory it will just drive gun owners underground. We may choose to register some of our more innocous weapons, such as a single shot 22 cal. rifle, an older model 38 Special or an older shotgun.
What we will start buying is surplus new/used military weapons that have been stolen and illegally shipped to countries all over the world. Military weapons are stolen every day and sold on the black market, including here in the US. None of these weapons will have any sort of paper trail, after all they are stolen. The manufacturers will not go out of business because governments always want more and newer weapons, none of these black market weapons will be registered or reported. Dealers for civilian type weapons may suffer and even go out of business, but the black market is here forever

As far as storage is concerned, if you don’t want the authorities to find some thing that they don’t know you have to begin with, you just put it away in a safe location that only you know about, short of torture or gross stupidity it will be secure. Transportation would not be a problem, unless you think the authorities have the man power to search every vehicle in detail in the US.

The only thing your scenario does is turn other wise honest citizens into potential criminals, the government is working hard to do that already. It does not matter what the government does, weapons will always be available to those who want them and are willing to bend or break the illegal rules any government may try to put on them. One thing the governments should consider is the fact that most military grade weapons are what they don’t want us to have; if they force our hand, military grade weapons is what we will be forced to buy underground.

One of my favorite vignettes in your book was the WWII vet sitting in traffic at the check point who saw the black fritz helmet and decided, "not here."

Ten years ago that was a realistic enough scenario; where an aging warrior who had faced down the SS in western Europe would make one last stand for freedom. Now, even the youngest WWII vets who are still around are most likely at an age where they don't do much driving, and aren't in much of a position to take the desperate action they might have 10 years ago.

I wonder how much the national zeitgeist, and willingness to submit to tyranny is a direct reflection of their dwindling numbers. Even more than that, I wonder how much that figures into the calculations of those who would tyrannize us.

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